AUTHORS GOTTA WRITE - FEMALE CHARACTER CLICHES

AUTHORS GOTTA WRITE – FEMALE CHARACTER CLICHES

When you think of a "strong female character", what do you think? A literally strong girl who could beat a sumo-wrestler at arm-wrestling, or a strong-willed girl who is an epic sword-fighter? What about a girl who displays no emotion? What about a girl who loves danger and laughs in the face of fear?

Your female characters are important, should they be background characters or not. I'm not saying your females are more important than your males, of course; they are equally crucial. But there are a few points I would like to go over when it comes to the female characters (and later, I will do a blog post about male characters as well, in part 2 to this post).

Reading about female characters either makes me pleased or irked; there is no in between. As a girl myself, I can relate to the female characters of a book easier than I can to the male characters. There are a few female character cliches I think should be given some serious thought, and here they are:

Number 1: Your female character has no emotion at all.

This is something that has always bothered me in a character, and one of the examples of this is Tris from the book series, "Divergent." When I'm reading a book, one of the most important things in a character, be it male or female, is their emotions. Are they generally happy, or do they find themselves more down-hearted? Do they have a good sense of humor, or a dry one?

Some authors may use the excuse, "But they went through something so horrible when they were younger, it sort of knocked all emotion out of them!" And I get that; I understand what shock from traumatic experience can do to someone, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have no emotion at all. Going through something so horrific that they seem to have no emotion can actually make them more sensitive.

Having emotion does NOT make your strong female character no longer "strong." This doesn't mean your character should run around crying or yelling, either; the point is, an emotionless character is extremely hard to read about. When your readers read about these characters, they're going to want to be able to understand who the characters are, and without emotion, this becomes extremely difficult.

Number 2: Your female character is TOO emotional.

There is nothing wrong with being emotional; there is nothing wrong with crying, nothing wrong with being angry, and nothing wrong with being afraid. But there comes a time when putting too much emotion in a character becomes obnoxious. The more you write about your character crying or becoming angry, the less your readers are going to want to see your character crying or becoming angry.

Emotions are part of being human, but I have never met anyone who is always angry, or is always upset, or is always scared or sad, or even happy. Your readers want your characters to have emotion, and show emotion every now and again; but if you do it too much, or write one too many scenes where the character "loses it", your readers are going to want them to cut it out.

Number 3: Not EVERY female character is interested in having a boyfriend.

There is nothing wrong with having a boyfriend; in fact, I wouldn't mind having one eventually, maybe when I'm eighteen, but if your character is obsessed with finding love, it gets old really fast. In a lot of movies I've seen, the females are represented as nothing more than a love interest to a male character; this is annoying, and definitely cliche.

There is nothing wrong with your characters having a boyfriend, or wanting a boyfriend, for that matter; but if it gets to the point where it's all they think about or talk about, your readers will become uninterested quickly.

Number 4: Not all girls are obsessed with makeup.

Again, nothing wrong with makeup, but if you have long descriptions of your female cahracter putting on makeup, it gets boring quick. Your readers aren't going to be interested in what kind of blush they put on, or eyeliner, or lipstick: they're more interested in the story. If you must write a scene with your character putting on makeup, brief is the way to go.

In conclusion . . .

There is nothing wrong with hiding emotions; nothing wrong with being emotional; nothing wrong with wanting or having boyfriends; nothing wrong with wearing makeup. But if these things start to take control of the rest of the story, be careful; you are wading through territory not all readers are going to be interested in trekking through.

NOTE: The rule of boyfriends can be forgotten if your book is strictly a romance genre. Otherwise, be careful in how much time you spend on the topic of boyfriends. The same rule goes if the book is a drama: excessive crying and yelling can be excused.

You don't have to be stoic to be strong; you don't have to be a drama queen to be a good character; you don't have to have a boyfriend, or wear makeup. None of these things make your female character a strong female character. A strong female character is one who your readers will love to see.

When in doubt, remember this: if you aren't proud of your character, your readers won't be proud of her, either.

(Notes: Don't go away! My next post will focus on the cliches of male characters, who are just as important as the female ones. Let me know what you think, and tell me if there are any points that I missed! Let me know if there's anything you agree with or disagree with! I need your feedback! :D)

-Beyond